Sinbad Launches New Voyage with Neo, XXX Helmer

With Keanu Reeves starring and action director Rob Cohen at the helm, Columbia Pics is launching The 8th Voyage of Sinbad.

This, of course, is not the first voyage for the titular hero. Special-effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen brought Sinbad’s story to life in 1958 with The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Subsequent chapters included The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in 1974 and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger three years later.

In the latest version set in eighth-century China, Sinbad and his shipmates embark on a quest to find the lamp of Aladdin. Along the way, they meet a beautiful empress and battle fantastical creatures as well as a rebellious Chinese general who threatens the kingdom with his supernatural powers. Scribe Charlie Mitchell is currently rewriting a script by Cormac and Marianne Wibberly and Tedi Sarafian.

Reeves joins an eclectic crew of past Sinbads. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. starred in 1947’s Sinbad the Sailor. Other Sinbads over the years have included Sebastian Cabot, Gene Kelly, Shemp Howard and Lou Ferrigno.

Sinbad will be Cohen’s seventh pic with producer Neil Moritz. The director recently completed Columbia’s Stealth, starring the recently Oscar’d Jamie Foxx. He also helmed box office hits XXX and The Fast and the Furious.